Search: “salmiya”

Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons will be opening up in Kuwait. Back in 2004 I took the picture above in Salmiya, supposedly Tim Hortons was opening up there but Dunkin Donuts ended up opening instead. [Link]

Thanks Omar

A reader emailed me awhile back asking me if I could use this blog and my readers to help me create a list of places that are open 24 hours in Kuwait. I thought that was a good idea so I’ve started the list below with some places I know of that are open 24/7. If you know of any place that’s open 24/7, post it in the comments below and I will add it to the list.

Places open 24/7 in Kuwait:
• Burger King – Bneidar Gas Station 1, Bneidar Gas Station 2, Farwaniyah, Fintas, Hawalli, Khaitan, Messilah, Plajat, Sadiq South Surra and Salmiya opposite Sultan Center.

• Caribou Coffee – King Fahad Road (towards Chalets)

• Coffee Republic – King Fahad Road (towards Kuwait City)

• Co-op – Al Adan, Al-Faiha, Al Qousor, Al Qurain, Dasma, Mishref, Qurtoba, Salmiya and Yarmouk

• Costa – Dar Al Shifa Hospital, Hawalli

• Debenhams – Airport

• Dunkin Donuts – Amman Street (Salmiya) and Fintas

• Fedex Kinkos – Fahad Al Salem street, Kuwait City

• Geant Easy – Salmiya

• Hardees – Khaldiya, Rumathiya and Salmiya (opposite Fanar)

• KFC – Kuwait City, Salmiya (opposite Fanar)

• McDonalds – Al-Qosour, Al-Rai, Bayan, Bnaider, Fintas, Gulf Road, Jabriya, Surra and Yarmouk

Pizza Hut – Faiha, Fintas, Hawalli, Mishref and Salmiya City Center

• Platinum Gym – Salmiya and Kifan

• Prime & Toast – Seef

• Subway – Khaldiya

• Sultan Center – Dajeej, Fahaheel, Hawalli, Jabriya, Mangaf, Al Rai, Salmiya, Salwa and Souk Sharq

• Viva – Airport

• Wataniya – Airport

• X-Cite Electronics – Al Rai, Fahaheel and Hawalli

• Zain – Airport

In 2011 Cinemagic is continuing the journey of the old, the latest and the best. Films that would never see the light in Kuwait and films that you should never miss. From the list of movies this month the only one I have seen is Four Lions which although was funny I thought dragged a bit too long. Here is the full schedule:

Thursday, February 3rd at 7:30pm
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
Director: Daniel Alfredson
Country: Sweden
Release: 2010
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 129 minutes
Language: Swedish | English Subtitle
Awards: Winner Best Actress, Best Foreign Film
Rated: R

Saturday, February 5th at 7:30pm
THE TIME THAT REMAINS
Director: Elia Suleiman
Country: UK | ITALY | FRANCE
Release: 2010
Genre: Drama
Running time: 109 minutes
Language: Arabic | English Subtitle
Awards: 3 awards, Best DIRECTOR, Best Film…
Rated: PG

Thursday, February 10th at 7:30pm
DEPARTURES
Director: Yôjirô Takita
Country: Japan
Release: 2008
Genre: Drama | Music
Running time: 130 minutes
Language: Japanese | English Subtitle
Awards: 34 wins, Best Film, Actors, Cinematography, editing, sound, costume.
Rated: PG

Saturday, February 12th at 7:30pm
FOUR LIONS
Director: Christopher Morris
Country: UK
Release: 2010
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Running time: 97 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 7 Nominations, Best Director, Best Film, Best Screenplay
Rated: R

Thursday, February 17th at 7:30pm
THE SECRET OF KELLS
Director: Tomm Moore
Country: France | Ireland
Release: 2009
Genre: Animation
Running time: 75 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Animation
Rated: PG

Saturday, February 19th at 7:30pm
NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS
Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Country: Iran
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama
Running time: 106 minutes
Language: Persian | English Subtitle
Awards: Cannes – Un Certain Regard, Special Jury Prize
Rated: PG

Thursday, February 24th at 7:30pm
SURPRISE FILM

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

So last week I posted about how I was against making my street greener before the garbage issue gets sorted. Well the street is now 3 days away from being completed and it’s starting to look good. Maybe this new look will encourage people not to litter.

After I posted about the Fiat 500 being available in Kuwait their brand manager contacted me and offered the Fiat 500 to test drive over the weekend. So I picked it up on Thursday and spent the weekend just driving the 500 around.

The car is cute, to me it’s like a Vespa except it has 4 wheels. Everywhere I went people would check it out, kinda like the effect the Mini and VW Beetle had when they were modernized and first launched. The dealer has currently imported one version of the Fiat 500 which is the Lounge model with the 1.4L engine. It’s fully loaded with leather seats, electric sunroof, dual logic semi automatic transmission, automatic climate control, steering wheel controls, fog lights, chrome trimmings and more. It generates only 100hp which I thought would be pretty lifeless but was actually surprised by the performance… for a small 1.4L car.

Friday morning I woke up and headed out to the junkyard to take pictures of the car. I know junkyard? But truthfully it’s one of my favorite places to take pictures since the place has a lot of color. Driving the Fiat 500 on the 6th ring road the car easily managed to keep pace at 120KM/h without a sweat. What I found though is that the car is a lot more fun to drive in more densely populated roads and areas where the Fiat is easy to maneuver and navigate. Finding parking isn’t a problem for the 500, I got to Ruby’s Friday night and found a tiny parking spot where some motorbikes had parked, with a little skilled maneuvering I was able to squeeze the Fiat in and parked alongside the motorbikes. The trunk is pretty small as well with enough room to fit just one large travel bag. But when you fold down the rear sits you end up with a lot more space. I picked up my dad from the airport Friday night and I managed to fit two large bags and one carry-on with still plenty of room to spare. The interior console is also pretty cool, very retro and definitely an eye grabber. Headroom was a slight issue for me, I’m 6’1 and had maybe an inch or two of clearance on top of my head so someone taller than me might have a problem.

For me the car would make a lot of sense back in Lebanon, the low gas consumption and the small size would make a perfect day to day car. I could easily imagine myself driving the Fiat 500 to work daily and then using the Toyota FJ on the weekends. In Kuwait on the other hand gas is cheap and unless you’re driving around in Shuwaikh at 1PM you could really drive around in a Hummer H1 and not run into problems. But I guess sometimes when you just need to go on a quick short trip, maybe you need to go down to Hawalli and pick up a new hard drive or pass by Sultan Center in Salmiya on a weekend, I can see the Fiat being very practical in those cases. University students looking for a first car might also be attracted to it. There aren’t that many cars in the Fiat’s price range which have a personality of it’s own.

The Fiat dealership is launching sometime at the end of the month. At first they will just be selling the Fiat 500 but they will also be bringing in other Fiat models as well. The Fiat 500 is selling for KD6,500 which is similar to the UK prices. They’re also going to be bringing in a model without a sunroof which should cost around KD6,000. Now the #1 question I was asked by my friends about the car is if the dealer will be bringing the turbo charged Abarth models. Well according to the brand manager they are currently in talks with Abarth and they’re hoping to open the first Abarth dealership in the region here in Kuwait. So that’s good news for people waiting for the Abarth model. If you have any questions about the car you can ask me in the comments below and I’ll try to answer it.

For 2011 Cinemagic will continue the journey of The Old, The Latest and The Best. Films that would never see the light in Kuwait, films that you should never miss, films that you might like and others might hate but agreed that it added flavor to your taste, films that we should all discover and cherish. I’ve watched two of the movies from this months schedule, Son of Rambow and City of God. Son of Rambow was pretty cool but City of God is like one of the best movies ever made. If you’re going to choose one movie to watch this month then watch City of God.

Thursday, January 6th at 7:30PM
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Country: Sweden
Release: 2009
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 152 minutes
Language: Swedish | English Subtitle
Awards: Winner Best Actress, Best Foreign Film
Rated: R

Saturday, January 8th at 7:30PM
THE MAID
Director: Sebastien Silva
Country: Chile
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama
Running time: 95 minutes
Language: Spanish | English
Subtitle Awards: 24 awards, Best Actress, Best Film, Best Director…
Rated: PG

Thursday, January 13th at 7:30PM
THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Country: Argentina
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Mystery
Running time: 129 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: 34 wins, Best film, best actors, cinematography, editing, sound, costume…
Rated: R

Saturday, January 15th at 7:30PM
THE WHITE RIBBON
Director: Michael Haneke
Country: Austria | Germany
Release: 2009
Genre: Drama | Crime
Running time: 144 minutes
Language: German | English Subtitle
Awards: 24 wins, Best Director, Best Film, Best Cinematography
Rated: R

Thursday, January 20th at 7:30PM
SON OF RAMBOW
Director: Garth Jennings
Country: UK
Release: 2007
Genre: Comedy
Running time: 96 minutes
Language: English | English
Subtitle Awards: Best Script, Best Film, Best Director
Rated: PG

Saturday, January 22nd at 7:30PM
CITY OF GOD
Director: Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund
Country: Brazil
Release: 2002
Genre: Crime | Drama
Running time: 130 minutes
Language: Portugese | English Subtitle
Awards: 55 Wins, Best Film, Sound, Editing, Cinematography, Script…
Rated: R

Thursday, January 27th at 7:30PM
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
Director: Ji-Woon Kim
Country: South Korea
Release: 2008
Genre: Crime | Comedy
Running time: 139 minutes
Language: Korean | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Cinematography, Director, Editing, Soundtrack
Rated: PG

Saturday, January 29th at 7:30PM
IL POSTINO
Director: Michael Radford
Country: Italy
Release: 1994
Genre: Drama
Running time: 108 minutes
Language: Italian | English Subtitle
Awards: Best Film, Music, Script, Director, Acting…
Rated: PG

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

My friend spotted the banner above at Holiday Inn Salmiya. Seems there is a 95% sale on designer brands taking place at their ballroom. I don’t know how long the sale is there for but according to the banner they’re open from 10AM to 10PM.

Thanks Q

Update: Seems today (Wednesday) is their last day

A small breakfast place opened up near my house and I decided to pass by and try it out last week. The place is called Breakfast & Brunch and is located in the large outdoor parking lot adjacent to Marina Mall (facing BoConcept). Nat and I passed by during the week around 10AM and out of the five small 2-seater tables at the place, only one was occupied. We sat down at a table and got the menus which had a ton of items on it. It was huge. Other than the regular breakfast place stuff like eggs, pancakes, crepes, etc.. they also had a long list of sandwiches to choose from (I’m guessing the “brunch” aspect of the place).

I ended up ordering freshly squeezed orange juice and a 3 egg omelet with cheese and turkey while Nat ordered the Nutella Crepe. I wanted to order pancakes as well but I knew Fahad would make me suffer at the gym if I did. The food arrived a bit later and looked very good. My omelet came with sausages, brown bread and hash browns on the side which I quickly dug into after taking the picture above. Everything tasted good but then again it’s hard to go wrong with omelets and crepes.

There isn’t really anything negative to say about my experience. The only thing I can think about is the fact the place was a bit too quiet when we first sat down but the couple on the other table asked for the radio to be turned on which fixed things. I personally liked the place, it’s close to where I live, there is a lot of parking space available and because it’s still not very popular, finding a place to sit shouldn’t be a problem. For those of you who are interested to try out the place, here is one of my famous maps to help you find the location [Map] and here it is on [Google Maps]

[YouTube]

I contacted Chris, the guy who uploaded the original video of Kuwait 1984 – 1987 that included the old Salmiya and asked him if he could upload some more videos if he had any. He told me he would try his best and since then has uploaded 3 more videos. Sadly a lot of his videos were not readable but he’s sharing whatever he found working. I already posted the video of the car exhibition from the mid 80s the other day and the video above and below are two more new ones.

The video above features the Gulf Road (back when you could drive into the Green Island?), some of the old Salmiya, other residential areas and Kuwait City (including Muthana Complex during its prime). The video below features some National Day celebrations.

[YouTube]

Thank you Chris for sharing your personal family videos with us.

Kuwait won the Gulf Cup just as I was about to leave Salmiya and go to my martial arts class in Shuwaikh. Luckily I managed to avoid the Gulf Road and the 30th just in time and hit the 4th Ring Road which was still moving. Some people weren’t as lucky but on the bright side there was no foam (or at least I didn’t see any). [YouTube]

Update: A reader requested I post the picture of her cat Jacob celebrating the Kuwait win. Cute.

The post below reminded me I should actually post about the Funoon store. For everyone that’s grown up in Kuwait during the 80’s, this store is a gold mine. They have all the famous Abed Al Hussein Abd Al Rida plays and shows available… on DVD! I picked up the Bye Bye London DVD for just KD3. Quality isn’t DVD quality but it’s better than the VHS tape I had. Only problem I actually had with the DVD is that sound comes out of one speaker only because they took the mono track and assigned it to one side. I would have taken the mono track and repeated on the left and right instead. But anyway that’s a small complaint. They also had Seif Al 3arab (2 DVDs), Bye Bye 3arab, Dars Khoosoosee, Darb Al Zalag and a lot more… all on DVD and all priced at KD3 per DVD.

Not sure how many branches they have but I went to the one off the 5th Ring Road in Salmiya. If Turkish Grill is on your right hand side it’s around 200 meters right after it, on the corner of Amman street.

This is a home video shot by an Eastern European family back in the mid 80’s. There are a lot of scenes around Kuwait, I spotted Fahad Al Salem Street in Kuwait City in one scene. There are also some scenes taken during the National Day celebration (no foam!). Not only that but at around 7:15 into the video they have a drive by video of old Salmiya, specifically Salem Mubarek Street where Waleed Toys is! I completely forgot about the Electronic Appliances Corp shop!! Then you get to see the Alamiah store with the MSX being advertised in the display. I wished they had filmed more of Salmiya, it looks really clean and alive in the video, not the like ugly shape it’s in now. [YouTube]

Warning: The video contains scenes of women in bikinis

The weather right now is just amazing for watching movies outdoor and Cinemagic have a ton of great movies scheduled for us this month. I personally want to try and watch North by Northwest since I haven’t watched that yet.

Thursday, December 2nd at 7:30PM
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Director: Robert Wise
Country: USA
Release: 1965
Genre: Adventure | Musical | Family
Running time: 176 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 5 Oscars, 10 other wins and 10 nominations
Rated: PG

Saturday, December 4th at 7:30PM
LA DOUBLE VIE DE VÉRONIQUE
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski
Country: Poland
Release: 1991
Genre: Drama | Fantasy
Running time: 98 minutes
Language: French | Polish | English Subtitle
Awards: Golden Globe Nominee, 8 awards and 15 nominations
Rated: 15+

Thursday, December 9th at 7:30PM
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Country: USA
Release: 1959
Genre: Thriller | Action
Running time: 131 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 3 Oscar nominations, 4 wins and 3 nominations
Rated: PG

Saturday, December 11th at 7:30PM
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
Director: Julien Schnabel
Country: France
Release: 2007
Genre: Drama
Running time: 112 minutes
Language: French | English Subtitle
Awards: 4 Oscar nominations, 41 wins
Rated: 15+

Thursday, December 16th at 7:30PM
EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Country: Spain
Release: 2006
Genre: Fantasy | Drama
Running time: 120 minutes
Language: Spanish | English Subtitle
Awards: 71 awards and 58 nominations
Rated: 15+

Saturday, December 18th at 7:30PM
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Director: Tim Burton
Country: USA
Release: 1993
Genre: Animation | Fantasy
Running time: 76 minutes
Language: English | English Subtitle
Awards: 4 awards and 6 nominations
Rated: PG

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. There is a KD1 charge for the venue fees which includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

I noticed Sports Corner in Salmiya has a small section with authentic Red Bull Racing Gear. They had a bunch of their Formula 1 branded gear including Vettel tshirts and Red Bull racing caps and polos. For those of you don’t follow Formula 1, this year Vettel who drives a Red Bull car was the champion.

The gas station on the Gulf Road right next to Shaab Park in Salmiya is nearly done. I passed by tonight and they had the lights on and everything looks pretty cool. I think there will also be a small mini market at this gas station which should prove to be very popular since it’s right on the Gulf Road. This used to be the gas station I passed by the most since it’s on my way back from work so I’m glad it’s finally opening up again.